The Heilmeier questions, also known as the Heilmeier Catechism, was developed by George Heilmeier, and early director of the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. These questions, adapted from the DARPA web site [Heilmeier24] are:

• What are you trying to do? Articulate your objectives using absolutely no jargon.
• How is it done today, and what are the limits of current practice? What are the consequences of doing nothing?
• What is new in your approach and why do you think it will be successful?
• Who cares? If you are successful, what difference will it make?
• What are the risks?
• How much will it cost?
• How long will it take?
• What are the mid-term and final “exams” to check for success?

Some variants add some additional questions:

• How might this program be misperceived or misused, and how can you prevent that from happening?
• How will the program be organized?
• Why are you and your team the right people to do this?
• What value will this project create?